Prejudice against Christian Science
is waning, and taking its place is an earnest desire to learn what is its real nature, and how it may be applied for the
benefit of mankind.

Those who heard Professor Hering
lecture on that subject, in Brattle hall, Harvard Square, last Sunday must have
had many natural questions answered and doubts dispelled.

He was briefly introduced by
Giles M. Smith, First Reader of First Church of Christ, Scientist, in this
city, in the following words:

Ladies and Gentlemen: —

First Church of Christ,
Scientist, Cambridge, welcomes you here today. Our members have experienced
manifold blessings of health and happiness through the study of Christian
Science and the application of its teachings, and it is our desire to bring to
you its inspiring message of demonstrable Christianity.

We are glad to avail ourselves of
the opportunity provided by the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science,
Mary Baker Eddy, when she established The Christian Science Board of
Lectureship of The Mother Church, and have asked one of its members to address
us.

The lecturer has been a member of
this Board for a number of years and has spoken on the subject of Christian
Science in many parts of the world. His earnest and faithful work
commend him to us all.

Professor
Hermann S. Hering, of Concord, New Hampshire.

The lecture follows:

When we consider the unsettled
conditions and turmoil prevalent in the world today, thought naturally reaches
out for both their cause and their solution. The world is an aggregation of
individuals, hence its condition, the quality of its thinking, the character of
its activities, are a composite of those factors in its constituents. In other
words, world conditions are the product of the lives and mentalities of its
people, their habits of thought, their ethics, their ambitions, and their
resultant conduct. If the members of a community live rightly, that community
will be measurably harmonious, healthy, happy, peaceable;
if they live wrongly, are selfish, immoral and vicious, the community can but
be correspondingly discordant, unhealthy, unhappy.

Right Desire Essential

Let us then inquire into the
Science of right living, — what is the Principle and law involved. Most people
want to live rightly and to do right, but many do not know what right is, and
therefore cannot grasp the advantages of righteous living. They really do not
choose to do wrong but mistakenly think there is some advantage in it. The
allurement of sin and ill-gotten gain is seen only from a selfish viewpoint.
People often do wrong because they do not believe in life after death and do
not recognize that their thoughts and acts here and now make or mar their
individual character, which outlasts the so-called pleasures of evil indulgence
and determines their environment in life, wherever that may be.

The influence of belief in
heredity, environment and education is responsible for our habits of thought as
well as our desires, but it is generally admitted that what is wrong in all
these can be corrected through right moral education and the appeal to reason.
When people realize that indulgence in evil is a distinct disadvantage to them
and that it results in inevitable suffering, and further when they see that the
practice of good, right, and justice results in real benefit, they will be more
careful of their thoughts and acts. The so-called pleasure of sin and the
suffering of disease enter experience because they present themselves to
thought in a way which appeals to human belief.

Recipe in the Bible

St. Paul writes: "For the
law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin
and death." (Rom. 8:2)

The Bible contains many clear and
definite statements of the healing law of the gospel and its relation to every
form of evil thinking and living, and it shows that God heals not only sin but
also sickness, through the application of the Principle embodied in this law.
Christ Jesus demonstrated this conclusively, and yet there have always been
many who disbelieved in the practical application of his teachings, because
they never really understood them. From the inception of Christianity, however,
some have striven to obey his teachings and to manifest the Christ spirit which
brings salvation from both sickness and sin. This spirit was strongly in
evidence in the healing works which characterized the early church, until the
time when Christianity was engulfed in formalism and its vital spirit quenched.

Today many thinking people are
beginning to see, as they have not seen before, that the healing work of the
early church is yet possible, although this healing work rebukes the generally
accepted supremacy of material law. They perceive that there is such a thing as
spiritual law, a law apart from physics: that this divine law is and should be
sovereign over so-called physical law; that it has dominion over what is termed
matter; and all this in spite of the bias of materialistic thought which
declares that any existence apart from the material cannot be conceived. It is
encouraging that Christian peoples are beginning to awake out of their sleep
and to assert their right to the freedom and harmony of the children of God.

Healing Principle Available

When men realize that there is a
Principle underlying all existence, which operates according to divine law, and
quite regardless of time and place, they will see that the physical changes
accompanying spiritual healing are due to the operation of this Principle, in
accordance with law; and that such Principle, law and operation constitute
Science.

It is evident that Christ Jesus
considered this healing work a very essential factor of his ministry; indeed he
made it a test of Christian discipleship, for he said, "He that believeth
on me, the works that I do shall he do also"; which means that he who is a
Christian will be able to heal spiritually. Surely every Christian must desire
to believe in and to practice that spiritual healing, which accomplishes so
much more than can drugs, surgery and an impotent faith. Recognition of the
healing power of divine Truth heals men without involving the fear, pain and
risk of death which so often attend surgical operations and the use of
nostrums.

Most right-minded persons, too,
would like to overcome evil with good if they only knew how; most of them would
like to overcome their failings, and to do right by their neighbor, but,
because of their faulty religious education, they have not known that the
ability to accomplish these things naturally follows the knowledge that good
has more power than evil. How few in all the world today realize that the logical,
and inevitable sequence of an understanding of the Master's teachings, together
with strict obedience thereto, would be a cessation of all sorrow, sickness and
wrong living.

Those who admit that Christian
healing is even desirable in the attainment of right living, will welcome a
consideration of what it involves, and what it depends upon.

We need then to consider first
the nature of human existence in order that we can clearly understand what
constitutes consciousness and apprehend what is involved in demonstrating the
Science of right living.

Nature of Human Sense

It is very evident that our
existence is our consciousness. To each one of us there is no existence except
that of which we are conscious. Acquired knowledge simply enlarges human
consciousness. The objects cognized by the physical senses are the effects of
materially mental activity. These effects in turn impress one,
become a part of human consciousness, though their nature and relations remain
hidden. For example, when we believe we see an object, we really become
conscious of a mental impression which we accept as the object's existence.

Further, it is evident that the
character of human existence depends largely upon the character of human sense.
We cannot avoid this conclusion when we consider existing differences in
personal characteristics; in educational bias, environment, association and
experience, and see what a widely varying sense of existence these differences
produce in different individuals. In every day experience we learn that no two
members of any group of persons, if asked their impression of any incident
appealing to the material senses, will give similar accounts. Each one can give
only his own mental impression. Sense phenomena are, therefore, not to be
accepted as absolute because they depend upon the quality of the perceptive
faculties, both native and educated. For example, let a tree be viewed by a
botanist, an artist and a lumberman. The botanist views it from the standpoint
of his botanical knowledge. He sees its botanical make-up and structure, the
character of leaf, flower, bark, etc. The artist views it mainly from a purely
artistic standpoint. He notes the color and form of the tree, and the way it
relates itself to its setting. Coincidentally with this he analyzes his
impression of it and thinks perchance of the combination of pigments he must
use to reproduce it upon canvas. The lumberman sees the tree as so much
available building material. To him a beautiful branch means a knot in the
board which reduces its value. His estimate of its worth is not in terms of
botany or beauty but in board feet.

Furthermore, the so-called
characteristics of the objective universe such as size, shape, distance and
color, do not seem the same to any two persons, for since the lenses of the eye
vary, the image made on the retina also varies, and the resulting mental
impressions are necessarily different, all of which shows that human perception
is not absolute but variable.

Mental Nature of Matter

Physical science does not explain
nor account for anything beyond sense testimony; therefore, in order to analyze
causation, we must go beyond the realm of the senses, and interpret and correct
our mental impressions in order to gain a knowledge of
the facts. When we look at a plant, for example, we experience an impression
said to be due to vibration called light, which produces a certain mental
effect which we objectify as a plant. It is not necessary for the plant
actually to exist outside of our consciousness if we can but get a mental impression
which we identify as a plant. In fact, all that mortals experience is the
impinging of different forms of vibration which are variously interpreted and
objectified. To illustrate, the markings on the record of the phonograph are
merely wavy lines. When the needle of the phonograph follows these lines, the
listener is impressed by a multitude of intricate air waves in which he detects
the tone qualities of the orchestral instruments and of the human voice which
were thus recorded. In a similar way, it is not necessary to have anything more
than these or kindred vibrations to impress upon consciousness any sense
experience and possibly we can thus see that the human consciousness includes
simply mental conceptions which comprise what seems to be our individual
universe, and that matter is a mental phenomenon.

Matter Not Substance

One of the difficulties in
accepting the statement of the mental nature of matter is the belief that
matter is substance. The fundamental property of substance is substantiality,
which is defined as being that which is lasting, that which has real perpetual
existence, that which is actual and not illusory. This means that substance is
indestructible and permanent, and matter therefore cannot be real substance,
since it is both destructible and transitory; it is a mental concept and not a
substantive actuality outside of consciousness.

Substance is that of which
anything is constituted, its body, its structure. Hence whatever really exists
must have substance and this must be indestructible. To illustrate, a
mathematical idea, because true, has substance. This substance is not material,
it is not the visible figures nor the chalk nor ink with which they have been
made, since these can be destroyed. Its substance is its truth, a right idea
which can never be destroyed. It is unchanging, permanent,
it has the power to remain itself. The substance of all real things is not seen
physically but mentally. Matter, therefore, is not substance since it is not
substantive. It has only been named substance by physical sense. In the
analysis of being it is extremely important to perceive that there is substance
apart from what is commonly called matter. This substance exists solely in the
realm of Mind and is conceived of purely metaphysically, for thus only can the
substantiality of Truth and Spirit be seen, and that which St. Paul refers to
as "the substance of things hoped for" be realized.

Another difficulty in getting
away from the material sense of things is the dimensional concept of existence.
Physical sense can perceive only finite or physical things. For example, the
dimensional concept which the senses have of mathematical ideas is projected as
finite, concrete figures or quantities, but it is not the mathematical truth
which these senses see, for this truth is not in the figures. It is in mind and
is cognized mentally through mathematical understanding. Physical things are
but misconceptions of realities. The ideas which they imperfectly express are
not limited to the physical expression but exist everywhere. Every truth is
unlimited, that is, infinite, for it is everywhere and indestructible. There is
but one idea six and that six is everywhere, can be known and used by everyone,
has its own individuality, can never be altered, exhausted, nor destroyed, and
consequently in that sense is infinite.

Matter Not Life

All this leads to the perception
that there is no life in matter, since one of the fundamental characteristics
of life is continuity of existence, which, as we have seen, cannot be
predicated of matter. We cannot affect mathematical truth by anything which may
be done to the figures, nor can we affect the real life of anything by what we
may do to its material appearing or symbol. When figures are written down at
random without regard to law, they have no meaning, no power. It is only when
they are correctly used that they express truth or life. So too, when human
thought conceives of ideas as fragmentary, discordant, temporary, without
Principle or law, this concept is without substance, truth, life or power.

It is thus seen that there is
neither substance nor life in matter or material phenomena; that existence is
not material but mental, a state of consciousness, and that truth and life can
be conceived of only metaphysically. On this plane alone can we analyze
existence logically and intelligently, and solve its problems.

Body Is Mental

Having seen that all the
phenomena of nature are mental, the projection of imperfect human sense, we see
that disease is mental and must be healed mentally, and therefore it is
essential for us to see clearly that body is mental.

Matter being recognized as a
mental phenomenon, a state of mortal consciousness, we logically conclude that
the so-called material body is mental. It is evident that this body is not the
man since he is not lessened though he lose a limb. A
mortal's selfhood or individuality is in consciousness, and this is obviously
mental. Therefore, his body is the embodiment and externalization of his
mentality, conscious and unconscious. Of a mortal, the Scriptures say "As
he thinketh in his heart, so is he." The appearance as well as the actions
of a man express his individuality and partake of the nature and quality of his
mentality. Therefore, thoughts of sin and disease, together with fear, anger
and grief, will externalize diseased conditions. This is admitted very
generally by physicians and can readily be proved.

A man does not live in a body nor
can he be controlled by it any more than mathematical truth lives in figures or
is controlled by them. The body of a man is but an outward sign or means of
human identification, and to encourage us to think of existence as apart from
the material body, St. Paul tells us that it is better "to be absent from
the body, and to be present with the Lord."

Let us remember, therefore, that
discordant conditions of the body are in fact due to discordant conditions of
human sense, a sense which is not always expressed as conscious thought, but
which is nevertheless a part of the mentality that constructs and governs
things of which we are not conscious. For example, we are not conscious of the
circulation of the blood nor of the assimilation of
food, nor of the growth of tissues, yet these processes are all the
manifestations of mentality, and would instantly cease were mentality removed.

Healing a Mental Process

A wrong thought, a fear may cause
a disturbance in organic or functional action, and then we become conscious of
some inharmony. In other words, as a man is an individual consciousness, and as
the body is an externalization of human consciousness, of which discordant
conditions are but a state, healing can result only as a change or
transformation of this consciousness is brought about, and this must evidently
be accomplished mentally, through some action of thought, since only in this
way can the quality of human consciousness be changed, the morbific conditions
and their causes be eliminated, and a normal harmonious state be established.

Having thus come to see that
so-called human existence and all that it includes is mental,
we can begin to grasp the logic of the conclusion that the healing of both evil
and disease is a mental process. We are thus in a position to examine into the
method by which Christian Science healing is scientifically demonstrated.

According to the Scriptural
accounts, the healing wrought by the Master and his disciples, was accomplished
through mental or spiritual means alone, that is, through some action of
thought. Christian Science healing is brought about in the same way. In both,
the healing Principle and law are mental, and knowing this, we are led to
examine into the nature of Mind and mind action.

Nature of Mind

Mind is evidently much more than
mere human thought or limited consciousness since it includes the cause and
phenomena of all existence. Christian Science teaches that Mind is the infinite
consciousness which expresses itself as ideas and constitutes all being; the
intelligence and creative Principle and substance of the universe; the basis of
all manifestation and right thought, the absolute Truth. This infinite
actuality means boundlessness, without beginning or end, without quantitive
dimensions; it means immutability, perfection, indestructibility; it means
omnipresence, omniscience, omnipotence; it means oneness, the all-embracing,
self-existing, eternal being.

Since the human sense of mind is
externalized as material discord, it is manifestly evil, and it becomes
necessary to make a clear distinction between the Mind which is Truth and
wholly good, and the consciousness which embraces both truth and error, good
and evil.

Real Versus Unreal

First, a distinction needs to be
very clearly drawn between that which is actually real and that which only
seems to be so. To become conscious of a sense appearance, furnishes no
evidence of the truth of the appearance, as for example, the apparent
converging of railroad tracks. In order to determine what is real and what is
unreal in any case we have to consider whether it is absolute or merely
relative. That which is absolute exists by and of itself, is
independent of all else. That which is called relative appears real only
by virtue of our belief in it. A thing is therefore absolutely true or noumenal
when it is actual and does not depend upon human
sense. A thing is said to be relatively true or phenomenal when it depends
upon, or is the projection of imperfect sense.

Furthermore, that which is true
has no dimensional limitations. As for example, there is no
place where two times two do not make four, nor is there any limit to
the application of this rule. Truth is fundamentally infinite in quality, in
quantity, in presence and in power. Therefore, all that is real and true is
indestructible, everywhere and eternally perfect. Human sense concepts
resulting from matter and mortal belief involve limitation, uncertainty,
discord, decay and death. This illustrates the difference between the actual
and the seeming.

Again, the infinite is not an
aggregation of the finite, it is not composed of an
aggregation of finite quantities. Infinity can never be obtained by adding
dimensional particles. The result is always finite. Neither can the infinite be
divided into finite particles, or be expressed in finite quantities. The
quantity two is not a finite quantity, but an infinite mathematical idea,
existing everywhere and forever present and attainable. When represented by a
figure, the finite numeral is not the idea but only an imperfect unstable
symbol, which gives no correct concept of the quantitative mathematical value
everywhere present. Thus, since reality is infinite and matter is finite,
matter is unreal.

Divine Mind and Mortal Mind

We can thus distinguish between
the real Mind, the infinite, spiritual, immortal consciousness which expresses
itself in perfect indestructible harmonious ideas, and the mind which includes
the belief in matter, evil, limitation, disease and death. This latter
therefore is not real Mind, but a false concept of mind, the Adam dream which
St. Paul terms "the carnal mind which is enmity against God," In
other words, God's unlikeness or opposite. Paul also writes, "To be
carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace."
This carnal mind Christian Science further defines as "mortal mind,"
since it includes all that is sick, sinning, discordant and mortal. It is the
inversion or counterfeit of the immortal divine Mind, and its betraying
characteristic is finity as opposed to infinity; therefore, since all that is
real is infinite, all that is finite is unreal, and these unreal beliefs of the
carnal mind have neither place, presence, nor power; any more than has the
schoolboy's erroneous belief that two times two make five. It is simply a false
concept. It has no existence.

Human Consciousness

Here we need to consider the
human consciousness which according to belief includes a sense of materiality
and evil as well as of spirituality and good. It conceives of matter, of
discord, of death, and yet can conceive of Spirit, of harmony, of Life, can
know God. It includes a sense of both right and wrong, both truth and error.

Mrs. Eddy writes: ". . . the
heavens and earth to one human consciousness, that consciousness which God
bestows, are spiritual, while to another, the unillumined human mind, the
vision is material." (S. & H. p. 573)

She also writes: — "... sin
and disease lose their reality in human consciousness and disappear as
naturally and as necessarily as darkness gives place to light and sin to
reformation. Now, as then, these mighty works are not supernatural, but supremely
natural. They are the sign of Immanuel, or 'God with us' — a divine influence
ever present in human consciousness . . ." (S. & H. p. xi)

This is the consciousness of
"the man on the street" which enables him to feel that he may be
healed by the "renewing of the mind," by putting off the old man and
putting on the new, by being awakened by the Christ Truth; therefore, it is the
consciousness wherein reformation and regeneration take place and to which
Jesus appealed in his healing and teaching. Here salvation is to be worked out;
here good can be brought to bear upon evil to destroy it; here Truth can meet
error and correct it; it is the consciousness which can begin to know God. When
all evil, all error, is destroyed in the human consciousness, by Truth
asserting itself, then nothing remains but the knowledge of God, and the real
divine consciousness of the real man is attained and our salvation is worked
out — we have demonstrated our at-one-ment with the Father.

Mrs. Eddy's supreme declaration
is this, that there is one infinite Mind which is wholly good, perfect,
indestructible, immortal. This infinite, absolute, omniscient, omnipresent,
omnipotent Being is the incorporeal Father-Mother God whose true nature is
revealed through Christian Science. This divine actuality is the scientific
basis on which all Christian Science healing is demonstrated, the divine
Principle whose ever-presence is utilized in the overcoming of sin and
sickness, through the available transforming power of the Christ coming to the
human consciousness.

The Universe and Man

From this it follows that real
universe and the real man are the expression or manifestation of this infinite
Mind and that they partake of the spiritual nature and quality of this Mind.
Hence, all the ideas of God are perfect, incorporeal, eternal and harmonious,
they live, move and have their being in God, in divine Mind.

The real man is the image and
likeness of God as he is defined in the first chapter of Genesis, the
expression of Mind, Spirit, Soul, Life, Truth and Love. Mortal man is but a
human corporeal concept of the mortal or carnal mind. "The physical
universe expresses the conscious and unconscious thoughts of mortals"
writes Mrs. Eddy. (S. & H. p. 484) It is the
counterfeit of the divine universe which is embraced in the consciousness of
the real man. So also the "natural man" as St. Paul names him, is a
counterfeit of the spiritual idea, a product of physical sense, which
originated in and is dependent upon materiality.

Christian Science explains the
true nature of the divinely created man, as not the man created of the dust of
the ground but as the image and likeness of God, the man whom God pronounced
good and to whom He gave dominion over the earth.

The perfect nature of God and the
real man was revealed to Mrs. Eddy. The Scriptures spiritually understood
reveal this truth, and Mrs. Eddy first stated it in scientific and metaphysical
terms which, when understood, make it possible for anyone to begin to
demonstrate it. The creative Principle operates positively through divine law, it embraces and supports all real existence, — perfect
God, perfect man, and perfect universe.

Discrimination Necessary

But if all reality is spiritual
and perfect, there arises the question "What of evil, material, discordant
conditions?" Here Christian Science explains that because Spirit, the
absolute good, is infinite, everywhere, there can be no place for either evil
or matter, and it therefore classifies all phenomena and all experiences which
are unlike perfect God and perfect man as unreal, as false concepts projected
by erroneous human sense, as untrue beliefs; and it sustains this contention by
destroying these conditions, thus proving them untrue, for Truth is
indestructible.

Human thought has always believed
the objects of sense to be real, but now that the true nature of reality has
been revealed, a clear distinction can be drawn between what is actual and what is merely an appearance. This is an
essential element in the practice of Christian Science healing and must be
clearly understood for the reason that so long as we believe an appearance or
condition to be real and attempt to deal with it as a reality and at its own
valuation, we can make no progress in mastering it. A mathematical mistake
cannot be corrected until it is recognized as such. Even so, discordant human
conditions cannot be scientifically healed until they are recognized as errors
and divine Truth is applied to their elimination. Christian Science teaches
that because God or good is the only presence, substance and power, there is no
place for evil to be, no space for matter to occupy, no discord for mortal mind
to experience except as a false concept.

When we look at an object through
bent glass we see a distorted object, not because the object is distorted, but
because the medium through which it is perceived makes it seem so. The
distortion exists only as a belief, an illusion, and we do not accept the
appearance as real because we know it is not. Similarly existence appears to us
in a material, finite, evil form, not because it is so, but because mortal mind
so presents it. Christian Science by revealing to us the nature of real
existence, together with the illusive character of material sense testimony,
enables us to distinguish at any time between what is real and what is unreal,
to recognize material error to be error, and thereby to begin to free ourselves
and others from the bondage and fear attending it. The more clearly we make the
distinction between the actual and the seeming, the more effective will be our
efforts in healing.

Healing a Correcting Process

It should be clearly seen that
although Christian Science denies matter by revealing its unreality, it does
not destroy the sense of existence. The denial of matter does not produce a
blank, for matter cannot be effectually denied until the substance of Spirit
has been clearly apprehended. The metaphysical process involves a realization
of Truth and a corresponding denial of error, a recognition
of what is real and actual, and a resulting perception of the illusion of
material appearance. This brings about a change in the human consciousness, and
this improved quality of thought produces a more harmonious sense of existence.

Evil habits, depraved appetites,
lustful passions, all forms of sinful desire, activity, and wrong living, are
no part of the real man, God's idea, and they must be clearly separated from
him. Sin cannot be removed by fastening it sinner. It must be seen as the
mortal mind lie about man. Knowing that sin is not real and that God's man has
no sinful appetites, is not the slave of passion, nor the victim of vice, but
that man is the idea of God, reflecting divine Love and governed by divine
Principle — this heals the sick. St. Paul puts it, "the word of God (Truth)
is quick, and powerful." (Heb. 4:12)

How Truth Heals

It is often asked how and why
Truth heals, why healing follows when we think Truth, but especially how it
heals others to whom it is declared and about whom it is known, since in
Christian Science healing there is no transfer of mortal thought through mental
suggestion or hypnotism.

Christian Scientists know from
experience that the declaration and realization of Truth will establish harmony
in thought and heal all aches and pains. They also know that this takes place
because discord is error which the knowing of Truth corrects. This action in
the metaphysical realm is paralleled in the mathematical realm.

By its very nature Truth is
individual, since it has its own distinctive, complete, indivisible character
which identifies it Therefore it can express only itself, its own nature and
character, namely that which is true and truthful. Truth being infinite
Principle, it is power and expresses itself with power, and since there is no
power in error, error cannot resist the power of Truth. A mathematical truth
corrects a mathematical error to which the truth is applied, because of this
essential quality and property of Truth, by which it always expresses itself
and identifies itself, manifesting its own being in truthfulness.

In a similar way, a metaphysical
or spiritual Truth applied to a human error, corrects that error because of the
self-expressing property of Truth, whereby it always identifies itself when it
is brought into action.

There is, therefore, no difference
in the action of a silent treatment given to a person nearby or far away. In
both cases the truth of the treatment reaches the latent thought and corrects
the error. In the case of an audible treatment the truth may reach the
patient's mentality through his conscious thought.

In both an audible treatment and
in listening to the Lesson-Sermon at Christian Science services the conscious
thought recognizing the truth and good of what is heard or read, opens to this
truth which then acts upon the unconscious mentality, and by its essential
property of self-identification, it corrects error and establishes what is true
and harmonious.

Divine Love the Real Healer

Right spiritual knowing is real
thinking, an expression or activity of Truth in consciousness. The knowing of
God is the appearing of Christ in us. This healing consciousness comforts the
sorrowing, brings hope to the unbelieving, awakens the sinner, and heals the
afflicted by destroying the darkness of error with the light of Christ, Truth.

A Christian Science treatment or
the scientific application of divine Principle,
consists fundamentally of the clear knowing of the nature of God and the real
man, and the consequent perception of the unreality of matter and evil. It
involves an analysis of that which is to be healed, a spiritual discernment of
the mental causes of the trouble, and a correct application of the antidoting
divine Truth which corrects and removes these causes. This is not a mere
repetition of words but is a scientific mental process, the reflection of
divine Love through spiritual consciousness which demonstrates the healing
through right knowing and right living.

Christian Science healing brings
about not merely a physical change, but improves the patient morally, mentally,
and spiritually. It brings a man nearer to God and changes his standpoint from
a material to a spiritual basis. It uplifts thought, gives him power over evil,
and improves his whole being in the degree that he can grasp its truth.

Christian Scientists know that "with
God all things are possible" and that Christian Science can show forth all
the wonders of infinite Mind. Hence they are striving day by day to have in
them more of the Mind that was in Christ, that they may demonstrate this
healing power more and more effectually. They are deeply grateful for the good
that has already come to them and the good that they have been able to do for
others, especially that they have learned to know the unreality of evil and are
thus able to defend themselves against every tempation or assault of evil mind,
animal magnetism. They are grateful to know that there is a perfect and
compassionate God, who will guide them and sustain them, "a very present
help in trouble."

Principle and Personality

Christian Science clearly shows
that Principle and personality are opposites. To be governed by personality
means to be influenced and controlled by the thoughts and opinions of some
finite human being; whereas to be governed by Principle means obedience to the
infinite, divine law of right and justice, of Truth, and of Love. We may be
wrong when governed or influenced by personality since personal characteristics
play so large a part in human opinion; but man who is governed by Principle can
never be wrong, since Principle is God, the infinite, divine Love.

In order to approximate
government by Principle, therefore, it is necessary to know that God, divine
Love, is the only Mind, Life and power, and we then know that there is no
mortal or personal thought which can deceive or influence us. This
consciousness of the oneness of Mind and the powerlessness of its opposite,
makes it possible for us to be guided rightly, and prevents us from being
influenced wrongly by human will, by personal opinions, or by hypnotism.

Principle should not be thought
to be cold, abstract, or severe, since the vital element of Principle is
thereby missed. Principle is Love, and without Love there is no Principle.
Therefore, we are obedient to Principle only in the degree that we are obedient
to infinite divine Love, and endeavor to act in accordance with the Mind that
was in Christ.

World Healing

The fact that Christian Science
heals can readily be determined by any sincere investigator, and the supporting
evidence reveals its coincidence with spiritual healing, thus proving this
healing to be true and possible today, and
establishing the fact that Christian Science is Messianic.

Christian Science healing, being
contrary to the teachings of physical science, the thinker finds that it cannot
be interpreted on a physical basis, that it can be understood only as he gains
a metaphysical or spiritual viewpoint. To him Mrs. Eddy makes it entirely clear
that material existence is not real existence; that matter is not what it seems
to be, and that he cannot safely trust the evidence of the physical senses. Her
writings lead thought into the realm of the immaterial and divine, they show us
that we must look beyond physics into metaphysics for causation and truth. The
world is now beginning to respond to this demand. Inquiry into the mental
nature of things is becoming more general, and the call is for an intelligent
interpretation of experience, of physical phenomena, and of the nature of the
human consciousness. Many of the points for which Mrs. Eddy contended are today
finding corroboration as a result of the advance in physical science and in
psychology.

Christian Science heals through
the operation of divine law, the law whose Principle is infinite Spirit, Life,
and Love, and anyone who will apply this law of God exactly and honestly can
heal himself and others through Christian Science.

Mrs. Eddy and Her Revealed Word

Mrs. Eddy's one objective through
many years was to know God, to find the infinite source of good, to understand
the true nature of being, that healing might come to burden-bearing humanity.
Her single-mindedness, untempted by the world, undismayed by the weakness of
the flesh, undaunted by the enmity of evil, held her true to her ideal and
brought her to the longed-for goal, the demonstrable working understanding of
the Christ-method, with unmistakable signs following,

Her human consciousness allied to
God by her simple goodness, perceived divine reality, the nature of spiritual
being, and this vision of perfect God and perfect man made Mrs. Eddy the
discoverer of the hitherto unknown Science underlying all existence.

This "divine event" in
the eternal, unbroken plan of salvation, is perpetually maintained and
sustained by scientific rule and procedure, by which, through half a century of
practice and proof, the fact has been established that Mrs. Eddy is also the
founder of Christian Science. The marvel of these modern times is not the
phenomenal rapidity and variety of material development, but the spiritual
appearing to the transparent thought of one pure minded woman, of the Christ
Truth, revealing the universe of infinite Mind and its ever-present reflection.

This revelation coming not
through human reason and contradicting human experience and knowledge, is yet
so irresistible in its appeal and so glorious in its effects that its written
statement in Mrs. Eddy's book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,
readily reaches and convinces those who hunger and thirst for better things.

Recognizing Mrs. Eddy as the
Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science and that the revelation came to her
because of her preparedness, Christian Scientists earnestly strive to become
acquainted with her teachings as she has given them in her writings. They study
them very carefully in order to obtain her own interpretation from her own
words, and thereby avoid the danger of misinterpretation.

Efficacious Prayer

The spiritual thought which
apprehends divine Truth clearly, communes with God, or divine Principle, Love,
and this communion is true Christian Science prayer. This prayer recognizes the
falsity of evil human sense, and includes the deep, earnest, conscientious
desire to know God and do His will; it rests upon the absolute conviction of
the power of perfect Principle and the forever operation of the immutable divine
law, the law of Spirit, not of matter; it involves absolute dependence upon Him
for all that is good and right, recognition of His supremacy, the
acknowledgment of Him in all our ways, and the exercise of perfect trust in
Him, together with a clear understanding of the character and mission of Christ
Jesus, and obedience to his teachings. This is what St. James calls "the
prayer of faith" which shall save the sick and which Mrs. Eddy explains in her masterly elucidation of prayer in Chapter
One of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures."

In this book she writes:

"Only through radical
reliance on Truth can scientific healing power be realized." (Page 167.)

A mixed thought, or one in which
the real and unreal, the spiritual and the material, the divine and the human,
are not accurately differentiated, does not reflect spiritual truth clearly,
for Truth is Spirit and Spirit is reflected only by knowing Truth.

Indeed, Christian Science teaches
that the recognition of the evil thought or mental cause which is back of a
disease or disturbance, is an essential factor in
successful and instantaneous healing. Disease may possibly be due sometimes to
purely material causes, so-called, either chemical or mechanical, but more
frequently disease is due to the indulgence of sin or evil thought, or to
belief of malicious arguments. In such a case, when the evil is detected and
cast out, the sufferer is healed of the effects of the indulgence in wrong
thoughts or acts, and is protected from hypnotic influence.

Thus we see why Christian Science
is truly the Science of right living. It involves the knowing of divine Truth
and the Principle of correct living, it recognizes the deceptive character of
evil which is the cause of wrong living, and through the operation of divine
law, it makes the healing of this evil tendency possible. It not only heals sin
but it uplifts thought to higher ideals by revealing the true nature of God and
the real man, thus inspiring a stronger sense of right, or honesty, of justice,
of purity, of spirituality. It enriches human nature, develops and enlarges its
latent capacities for good, ennobles character, establishes moral and physical
health, inculcates a true love for God and man, and bestows the blessing
resulting from Christian living.

"Finally, brethren,
whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are
just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are of good report; if
there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things."
(Phil. 4:8)

[Delivered Nov. 7, 1920, at Brattle Hall, Cambridge,
Massachusetts, under the auspices of First Church of Christ, Scientist,
Cambridge, and published in The Cambridge Chronicle, Nov. 13, 1920.]